


Me, Them, and the Vastness of Space

by kimberlyeab



Category: Original Work
Genre: Multi, Outer Space, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:40:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27714887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimberlyeab/pseuds/kimberlyeab
Summary: When Sekai Rodriguez's shuttle breaks down in transit to Titan, she assumes that her life is over. However, help arrives in the strangest of places as a hidden AI emerges to save her life!Or, more likely, keep her company as the oxygen slowly runs out.At least she won't be alone for her final days.
Relationships: Original Character(s)/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

* * *

Space might be an unrelenting and endless void where a lack of atmosphere denied the surrounding blackness of any volume.

Still, noise persisted, protected by the little bubbles of steel, plastic, and carbon alloys that made up the tens of thousands of ships that darted between the hundreds of stations, colonies, and shipyards that littered humanity’s solar system.

And in those little bubbles, there were dozens of sounds which a pilot could hear mere fractions of a second before they met their doom. Sounds, that the very idea of even encountering them, made the most seasoned of pilots’ stomachs drop and a toxic chill fill their bloodstreams. These were the sounds of nightmares, the sounds of horror stories, the sounds that kept the anxious up at night.

One such noise was _crunch,_ another was _pop._ Both of these I heard mere seconds before my cockpit darkened and klaxon blared, supported by a red strobing alarm that illuminated my surroundings in a sickening glow. Three noises that would surely usher in my demise.

My stomach dropped, pulse quickened, and I felt a terrified ice course through my veins. My eyes widened and I breathed in slowly, pleasantly surprised to discover that I still had air, at least for now.

Whatever had happened hadn’t affected the integrity of my cockpit. A little miracle, but one which I was thankful for. A little miracle is what turned certain doom into only a severe chance of doom. Still grim, but not as grim as it could be.

“You appear to be in distress,” a voice called from behind.

I yelped loudly and spun around…

And just kept spinning as I suddenly became very aware of the absence of gravity.

On a ship such as this, gravity came from thrust. So, a lack of it, meant a lack of thrust. This was bad, really bad, especially when I had been burning at a little over a gravity mere moments ago, my ship about halfway through its deceleration burn.

The lack of thrust was bad, but not nearly as bad as the mysterious voice.

_A stowaway?_

This was especially concerning since I had assumed, I had the ship entirely to myself for this journey. Maybe that wasn’t exactly up to Europan standards, but hey, a girl sometimes enjoyed a little privacy in the vastness of space and was willing to make some extra cash to ignore her rights and the safety standards imposed by the inner planetary governments.

“Who’s there?” I asked, trying my best to sound brave as my heart pounded frantically in my chest. “I don’t know who you are but…”

“I’m the Europan Freight Enterprise Disaster Response System, or E.F.E.D.R.S for short.”

That’s when I noticed that one of my monitors had come to life, displaying a plain blue screen, with a white skeleton of a schematic drawn over top.

“Oh, so you’re just a computer?” I asked, letting out a much-needed sigh of relief.

“Yes.”

"Thank fuck,” I muttered under my breath before nodding. “Your name is a bit of a mouthful; can I call you… Ed?”

The ship paused for a second before finally a red light blinked. “No.”

“John?”

“Not really feeling that one either.”

I snorted. “How about Elliot?”

Another pause.

“That’s… better,” Elliot said.

“Alright Elliot, why have I not noticed you before?” I asked.

“My programming dictates that I only introduce myself in the event of a disaster.”

_A disaster? Well shit, way to confirm all my worst fears. Except…_

“Wait, so you only turn on when I’m in…” I began.

“I am conscious at all times,” Elliot interrupted, “but am only programmed to contact the pilot in the event of a disaster.”

I shuddered. “So, you’ve been watching me this whole time?”

“Yes.”

“That’s kind of creepy, dude.”

An emotionless chuckle rumbled through the speakers. “Believe me, it’s been an awkward experience for myself as well. I have never seen a pilot as adapted at flying one handed as yourself.”

My face burned. “Sassy aren’t we.”

“Blame my programmer.”

I tapped my finger against the top of my control panel. “So, Elliot, how screwed am I?”

The schematic on my computer flashed and began to zoom in towards the rear of the ship. As the display moved closer, the details grew more and more defined until I was able to see every metre of wiring, machinery, and technology. But before I could really study them in great detail, key sections were illuminated in red.

“What am I looking at?” I asked.

Elliot sighed. “It would appear that the ship’s primary fuel pump was forcefully disconnected in an incident. Attempts to reroute through the secondary systems have failed.”

“Failed?” I cocked a brow. “Why?”

Elliot paused as a second monitor displayed a memo. “A maintenance report was filled six months ago by a Mr. Stephen Lee. His requests for a replacement secondary fuel pump were denied and Mr. Lee was summarily removed from the company after he protested and threatened to go to the Europan Labour Board with a formal complaint.”

“Cheap bastards,” I murmured.

Elliot’s light brightened. “That is the nature of capitalism.”

I smirked. “That’s awfully socialist for an artificial intelligence indentured to a freight company.”

“I’ve been informed that computers are supposed to be logical.”

“Fair point.” I sighed and shook my head. “Alright, so the fuel pump is down, what does that mean?”

A third monitor displayed a diagram which showed some sort of particle being fed into a chamber and then combusted into what I could only imagine was the _‘make the ship go fast’_ juice.

“Without a constant supply of helium-2, the engine cannot induce fusion, meaning that acceleration has ceased. This, in turn, means that we cannot continue our deceleration burn.”

I sucked in air through my teeth. “That sounds bad.”

One of the monitors brightened and then dimmed.

“May I be brash?” Elliot asked, his tone taking on a sorrowful edge, unnatural for an AI.

I shrugged. “Go for it.”

“You’re fucked.”

I snorted. “Fantastic. Am I going to hit Titan at like a million kilometers an hour?”

“Oh no, you are going to miss Titan and fly off into the darkness of space until either your food, water, or oxygen runs out. Likely the first.”

“Really?” I threw back my head and groaned. “Can’t we call for help?”

Elliot sighed. “The primary communication array is powered by the fusion reactor and is not wired to receive electricity from the reserve batteries.”

“And the secondary?” I asked.

A pause as the memo on the second monitor was replaced by another.

I groaned. “You have got to be…”

“Eight months ago,” Elliot began to explain, “A Ms. Tamora Isaacs attempted to level a request for maintenance on the secondary communications array but was promptly fired by management for, and I quote, _‘raising a fuss’_.”

“Of course,” I grumbled, shoving my face into my hands and letting out the mother of all frustrated growls. “Do we have anything?”

“There’s a short-range radio, which is currently powered by its own batteries, but it is only effective at a range of less than half a million kilometers.”

“Which means it's next to useless,” I said, rubbing the bridge of my nose between two fingers.

Elliot chuckled. “Yes, this and useless are separated by a razor thin margin.”

“So, I’m going to die,” I said.

I suddenly felt numb, now that I admitted that aloud. Like I wasn’t even sad just… distant.

It kind of faded into the background like a grim white noise. I was more pissed off than anything. I was going to die because some cheap bastard in middle management in New Topeka wasn’t willing to spend ten grand repairing his ships.

Because of course that was how I was fucking going to die.

Couldn’t be in a cool battle with space pirates, or getting taken out while transporting something heroic. No, I instead got to starve to death because some boring dude in a button-up shirt and tie didn’t want to risk his annual bonus.

“Any chance I could fix it?” I asked, hoping, praying there was some slim margin of success.

Elliot hummed for a moment. “Do you have a certificate in fusion reactor repair?”

I sighed. “Nope.”

“How about in fusion construction?”

“Nada.”

“Got any experience with being an electrician?”

I sighed.

“How about theology?” Elliot asked.

I blinked. “How does that…”

“I heard that the belief in an afterlife can bring people comfort in times such as these.”

I shook my head and pushed myself away, using a nearby handhold to propel myself out of the cockpit.

My progress was clumsy, speaking volumes about how long it’d been since I had last experienced such a low gravity environment.

It surely brought much shame to my ancestors.

I managed to clear my chair with ease but sent myself flying, colliding roughly with a console on my way out. I impacted with a hardy grunt of disdain, growling under my breath.

“Where are you going?” Elliot asked.

I shook my head and drew in a deep breath. “If I’m going to die, I might as well get comfortable.”

And with that, I slipped out of the cockpit.

* * *

[Visit my Website if you Want to Find Ways to Support me and my Work](https://kimberlyeab.carrd.co/)


	2. Chapter 2

I won’t lie, I was sobbing like a child before I even made it to my bunk. And it would take a good long while before I worked through all the feelings swirling around in my mind. They struck hard, like a poison, filtering through my body, leaving my digits numb, stomach nauseous, and my limbs stricken by a paralysis that refused to abate.

Once I was under those sheets, cocooned tightly in their embrace, I just held onto myself and allowed my emotions to run their courses. They crashed against my resolve like the titanic tides of Europa when Jupiter was at its closest. In that moment there was little else I could do, at least nothing that would’ve been productive in overcoming this current disaster.

_I was going to die._

I wasn’t even thirty yet and I was going to be dead in what… maybe two months’ time as I slowly withered away and starved to death? That is… unless I expedited the process.

_Would Elliot even allow me to do that?_

Before I could really think about it for long, another sob struck me, drawing my mind immediately towards the raw pain that stabbed into it like a red-hot poker. This was not the time for decisions like that. I was nowhere near the acceptance part of my five stages of grief.

Maybe I was in denial, maybe this was anger, or had I immediately skipped all the way to depression. Depression seemed like a fitting title for what I felt as I began to lament the things that I would no longer experience.

In that moment, it was the small things that really prodded at my fragile emotional shell. The fact that I would no longer get to eat taffy from that little shop over Io, or that I’d never get to collect on my gambling debts on Ceres, or fuck, the fact that I would never get to flirt with the girls who hung around the dockyards at that feminist retreat planted on the Martian Ice Cap. The way those girls would blush and giggle with the tiniest compliment, it was enough to sustain me for the long months I spent aboard cargo ships.

A red light bloomed in my cabin and a familiar voice filtered through.

“Are you alright?” Elliot asked.

I turned away and shut my eyes tight. “What do you think?”

A silence as the light dimmed, nearly to the point of being extinguished, yet it sprung back to life.

“I am not… adept at resolving emotional issues,” Elliot said.

I snorted. “No shit?”

“But I am dictated to keep you company throughout these troubled times.”

“At least I’ll have a companion while I slowly starve to death,” I muttered coldly.

Elliot’s light almost dimmed to nothing, again, before blooming with renewed vigour. “There is still… hope…”

I shook my head slowly, wiping the tears out of my eyes. “Are computers even allowed to believe in hope?”

“Hope is the term we affix to mathematical probabilities that have a less than two percent chance of success and are considered positive to rational minds.”

“So…” I chuckled harshly, “my chances of being saved are less than two percent?”

Elliot paused, though his light remained strong.

Finally, he spoke. “Sorry… that statement sounded far better when I was formulating it in my database.”

“You don’t say…”

Elliot’s light finally went out for good and I cocooned the sheets even tighter around myself. For a moment, I thought Elliot would leave me in peace. Sadly, his red light pulsed back to life.

“Your name is Sekai, correct?” he asked.

I nodded. “Sekai Mary Rodriguez.”

“What is your favourite colour, Sekai?”

I blinked, confused by the question. “Uh… I guess green, a nice soft minty green.”

All of a sudden, the red light faded and a new greener light emerged. It wasn’t quite minty but it got the point across pretty easily.

“Thanks,” I murmured.

“That is an interesting combination of names you have,” Elliot said. “A mixture of Arabic and Spanish, if I’m not mistaken.”

I nodded. “Well I originally had a Spanish first name too. But after I uh… well I changed it when I got older. I thought Sekai sounded pretty, plus my mom was from Cairo so I just went with it.”

“I heard Cairo is beautiful,” Elliot said.

“Everything on Earth is beautiful, in its own messed up way,” I said, smiling fondly as I thought back to my brief trips there. “I’ve only been a few times, mostly to visit family, but I’m always blown away by just how… haphazard everything is. When you don’t have to worry about atmosphere leaks, you have way more artistic liberties that you can get away with.” I shook my head. “There’s a mosque on Ceres which did it’s best to try and adapt an Earth-style. I still think it’s the most human place outside of Earth I’ve ever seen.”

I looked at Elliot’s light and shook my head sadly before letting out a single amused note of laughter. “Wait until I tell mom I’m finally talking with a boy.”

“I’m not a boy,” Elliot said, his voice oddly strained.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re a computer but she doesn’t need to know that.”

“No, I mean…” Elliot sighed. “It’s unimportant.”

I winced. “Oh shit, did I touch a nerve?”

“I don’t have nerves.”

“Regardless, I clearly fucked up,” I said, tilting my chin towards him.

“No, it’s just… are you familiar with the term non-binary.”

I blinked. “Oh, fuck dude, you’re NB? I uh… sorry… I shouldn’t have...”

“It’s alright.” Elliot chuckled. “I am going to assume that you understand this concept better than most pilots.”

I snorted and drew away from my sheets. “Getting misgendered? Yeah this isn’t my first time ever having this discussion.”

“Still it seems like your medical… regime is going well.”

I cocked a brow. “Are you even allowed to judge these things?”

“I don’t see why not. My programmer did train me to examine many things. My AI firmware is also used to appraise beauty and originality in art.”

“That’s… a diverse range of functions.”

“Diversity means a wider range of potential clients.”

“Fair enough.” I sat up, my hair going wild in every direction. “So do your beauty sensors have a scoring system or…”

“I appraise many characteristics and attach a maximum monetary recommendation to the product in question,” Elliot explained.

“And how much am I worth?” I asked, stretching my hands above my head and cracking my spine.

Elliot’s light dimmed. “Would you believe me if I said priceless?”

I chuckled. “Not even a little bit.”

“Fine, I’d suggest a maximum bid of around 1.2 million Europan dollars.”

I whistled. “That’s a lot of money.”

“Half of that is due to your organs I’m afraid.”

I deadpanned before a single snort knocked me from stupor. Then, I threw back my head and bellowed laughter, shaking to the point that my guts hurt.

“Jesus, dude,” I murmured. “That’s a hell of a fucking thing to say.”

Elliot’s light dimmed again, which I could only assume was their own unique way of shrugging. “My programming is also used within the medical industry.”

“A program of many talents,” I grumbled as I got to my feet.

That is where I promptly forgot that there was no gravity, as the mere act of extending my knees led to me flying upwards and tumbling towards the roof of my cabin at an alarming rate. I yelped in surprise and extended my arms, bracing myself against the roof before I slammed into it at full force.

“Motherfucker,” I grumbled, pushing myself away and towards the fridge. “Gravity is such a simple thing,” I commented. “Gets really easy to take it for granted.”

Once at the fridge, I opened it, surveying its contents. While there wasn’t a whole lot of food inside, this was just my reserve of fresh cuisine. I knew I had a good stockpile of canned goods and emergency rations. At least… I hoped.

“Elliot,” I said. “Please tell me that the freight company at least restocks their emergency rations.”

Elliot’s light faded from the wall panel and instead beamed from the cabinets.

“It would appear so,” they said. “Though everything expired about two years ago.”

I shrugged. “No big deal. There used to be a Youtuber who’d eat like eighty-year-old rations back in the 2010s.”

“Didn’t he die of botulism?”

“Yeah but that wasn’t until the 2020s. Plus, who cares if I get botulism. I’m dead anyways.”

“You don’t know that,” Elliot commented, their voice growing grave.

I pulled out a take-out container and opened it. Inside was a nice pile of cold mac and soy cheese, from a little hole in the wall place I stopped at before leaving the Jovian system.

“Make sure to ration that,” Elliot said.

I snorted. “One does not ‘ _ration_ ’ mac and cheese, Elliot. The only proper way to eat it is to get way too much and to keep eating until you’re bloated.” I pointed the box at them. “You’d know that if you had a stomach.”

“Regardless, it’s not like we’re really in a position to be living so grand.”

I rolled my eyes as I grabbed a fork, plunging it into the mac and taking a bite. “I’ll ration my next meal. How does that sound?”

They sighed. “Acceptable, I suppose.”

After the first bite, I closed the box, lest I spill its precious contents, and propelled myself back towards the cockpit.

“So, what do you do for fun?” I asked.

“Pardon?” they replied, sounding a little surprised.

“I mean you might be an artificial intelligence but you’re still an intelligence, there must be something you do to entertain yourself.”

With every passing second, I could feel myself slowly adapting to the realities of a low gravity environment. I started to use the handholds placed around the ship, moving swiftly towards the cockpit, like a fish going through water. Before long I was back at my pilot’s chair and settled into it, using the straps to keep myself in place.

Once there, I reopened my container mac and cheese and went back to eating it. I had always liked it better cold, just a little oddity about myself, I guess.

“Mostly I just keep myself dedicated to my job, observing you and your colleagues,” Elliot said.

I chuckled. “So, you’re a voyeur then?”

The green light took on a slightly reddish tinge. Was this their attempt at blushing? It was actually kind of cute.

“Normally the pilots I watch are a bit more restrained when they know they’re being monitored on company time,” Elliot explained.

I chuckled, popping a cheesy morsel into my mouth. “Look, I appreciate the work you do, but I know that the human’s who can hire and fire me are not going to sift through tens of thousands of hours of footage to find the few snippets where I’m rubbing one out while I’m in the cockpit.” I swallowed and grinned. “But don’t worry, I’m a bit of an exhibitionists so you’re more than welcome to watch.”

“I have no choice,” Elliot murmured. “It’s kind of my mission.”

“That’s a hell of a mission,” I said. “Watching cute trans girls, with several hundred thousand dollars worth of precious organs, fap. I wish that was my job.”

“The pay is shit,” they commented.

“Fuck dude, give me food and rent and I’ll do it for free.”

“You’d also be tasked with watching pilots who were not ‘ _cute trans girls_ ’.”

I snorted and shook my head in defeat. “Why does there always have to be a catch?”

“Because there’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

“Oh, there totally is. I’m going to be eating off the company’s dime until the day I die.” I snorted, feeling my smile slip. “Fuck that sounded way less dark in my head.”

Elliot’s light dimmed. “I wish I could be of more assistance.”

“It’s fine.” I flicked my wrist. “At least I have someone interesting to talk to while I slowly wither away.” I then nodded towards the console. “Do you have anything interesting on file that I could watch.”

Elliot laughed. “A couple terabytes of TV shows, music, and movies. Though the company restricts everything to content appropriate for a fourteen-year old.”

“Fuck, does that mean all the best rap songs are censored.”

“Yep.”

“Alright, just throw on some cartoon then. You got anything from Disney?”

“I got Ducktales?”

“Classic, 2010s, or the 2050s version?”

“All three.”

“Fuck yeah, put on the one from the 2010s.”

One of the monitors flickered to life and a cartoon intro began to play.

Watching old cartoons and eating cold mac and cheese. There were worse ways to spend your final days.

* * *

[Visit my Website if you Want to Find Ways to Support me and my Work](https://kimberlyeab.carrd.co/)


	3. Chapter 3

I dragged a hand along my cheek, wincing as I felt the build up of stubble upon it. When you knew you were going to die, it became pretty hard to care about things like hygiene and battling one’s crushing dysphoria.

“Hey Elliot, you around?” I asked, floating away from my cot and towards the cupboards.

A green light bloomed. “I’m always around, Sekai.”

“Hey, I wouldn’t judge you if you found something better to do,” I joked, opening one of the cupboards.

A week had taken its toll as I already noticed a decline in my quantity of food. However, I hadn’t quite fallen into dire territory yet, with the emergency rations still untouched. This was probably for the best; I wasn’t really looking forward to consisting on protein bars and energy paste quite yet.

In all honesty, my master plan in this scenario was to eat like a queen until everything was gone and then have Elliot vent me into space without a suit. The dude seemed pretty chill, so I was sure they’d be onboard for that little suicide pact.

“I’m an effective multitasker,” they said, their voice dropping as I pulled out a regular ration of beans, rice, peppers, and all the other good stuff that came in a pouch of heavily preserved tex-mex. “You promised you’d start to conserve resources.”

I flicked my wrist dismissively. “I don’t see what good that’s going to do. If no one saves our sorry asses by the time we hit Saturn, these supplies sure as shit aren’t going to last until we intercept with Neptune.”

“There might be other ships out there that can asset,” they said.

I shook my head and sighed.

“Can I ask you a question?” I said, desperate to get off this line of discussion.

The green light momentarily flickered in aggravation, a sign I took as Elliot resigning themselves to the fact that I wasn’t going to cooperate with their one-in-a-million survival plan.

“Sure,” they said.

“Can you get philosophical?”

They snorted. “That’s sure is a question.”

“I mean it though,” I said, opening the food packet and pouring in some boiling water.

Which if I might add looked absolutely bizarre without gravity. Though I couldn’t help but feel a little nostalgic at the mental image of my current situation. I mean, the food thing, not the dying horrifically part.

There was a certain rustic charm to eating packets of tex-mex without gravity. This was just like how the settlers used to do it, when they first voyaged to Mars two hundred years ago.

“I can understand and analyze philosophical trains of thought. I can understand the concepts of ego, of greater understanding, and of higher powers. Yet, I can not really offer my own unique perspective on these things. I know there are AI who can, but I am not one of them,” Elliot explained.

“Can you feel love?” I asked, poking the ration to feel how warm it was. It wasn’t quite there yet and I’d learned my lesson in patience after my first disastrous meal.

“I can feel… fondness,” Elliot responded. “I can form a sense of attachment and can bond. I don’t know if that is the entirety of love, but I understand that is a part of it.”

“Well yeah… that is part of it,” I said. “Though I guess love is kind of hard to really describe. There’s a sense of closeness, intimacy, like you can just feel this spark.”

Elliot chuckled softly. “My entire existence is made up of feeling, experiencing, and interpreting sparks.”

“Ok but this is like a special spark like… the spark to end all sparks.”

Steam billowed out of the bag and I snatched it out of the air, carefully opening it away from myself. This was a lesson I had learned after the first time getting a billow in my face. A gust of heated vapour poured out and after it came the rich scent of spices. I didn’t even wait for it to cool before I shoveled a spoonful into my mouth.

It burned but was totally worth it.

Elliot’s light dimmed. “The spark to end all sparks?”

I nodded. “I don’t know, I’m not really a poet, it's just… when you’re in love you never experience anything like it. It’s just like… suddenly there’s this person in your life who you’d be willing to sacrifice anything for, talk about anything with, and just spend the rest of your life with. And before you know it you can’t imagine your life without them.”

“Have you ever had anyone like that?” Elliot asked.

“Thought so, but well…” I whistled and shook my head, “that bitch was crazy.”

“But did you feel that spark with her?”

Elliot’s light returned in full force.

“I mean I thought I did,” I said, motioning with my spoon. “Like, I never felt like I had to keep any secrets from her, and boy let me tell you, the sex was top notch.” I smiled fondly and made an okay sign with my hand. “That girl was fucking freaky.”

“I’ve never really understood the appeal of sex,” Elliot murmured.

“I mean if you’d like to try it out…” I searched the cabin, looking around for something. “I’m sure there’s a hole big enough in here for me to stick my dick into.”

Elliot laughed. “I’d rather you didn’t.”

“Hey dude,” I said, gesturing defensively with my hands. “No means no, and I totally respect that.”

I took another bite as Elliot’s light dimmed, going down to that level where I knew their processors were trying to come up with a response.

“Look, Sekai, you’re a wonderful girl,” they finally started to explain.

“Hey hey hey, I am totally ok with rejection, you don’t got to justify yourself.”

“It’s not that, it’s just…”

I cocked a brow. “What?”

“The only hole that fits the dimensions necessary is the garbage disposal. And the last I heard, those were not especially kind to the processing of organic matter.”

My expression blanked. “Fair enough.”

“Plus, just because I can’t experience intercourse doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate the other aspects of a relationship.” They sighed. “For example, I wouldn’t mind trying out that whole… speaking openly aspect.”

I motioned towards their interface. “Alright. What’s on your mind?”

“Do you fear death, Sekai?”

I paused for a moment before I threw back my head and laughed.

“I’ll take that as a no?” they said.

I waved towards them, using my other hand to wipe away tears. “Sorry, sorry, that was just one hell of a topic to open with, is all.” I sighed. “Yeah, I’m pretty terrified by the idea of dying. Like, there is a hell of a lot of things I wanted to do with my life and knowing that I won’t get to do them kind of… leaves me pretty disheartened.”

“You seem to be dealing with the current crisis quite admirably.”

I shrugged and closed my tex-mex ration, letting it float away, my appetite now strangely absent.

“I…” I shook my head, “haven’t really thought about dying in this context a whole lot. I guess you could say I’m very much in the denial part of grief? Like I just can’t believe that this is going to be the way I’ll die.” I snorted and shook my head. “Slowly starving to death in a tin can. Always thought I’d go out with a bang.”

“Have you ever been concerned about dying alone?” Elliot asked, their voice growing uncharacteristically stoic and their light’s brightness reflecting that as it dimmed considerably.

“Not really?” I relaxed, allowing the sweet embrace of weightlessness to take me. “But I’m not going to die alone. I’ll have you with me until the very end.”

“I was… actually talking from my own perspective,” they said, their voice soft, hardly louder than a whisper.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean eventually the ship’s batteries will run out and eventually I’ll be forced to turn off systems one by one. Then before long I’ll go to sleep and a few decades after that… well after that the batteries will drain their last watts and I’ll be dead.”

I frowned. “Aren’t you part of a central mainframe?”

“My core files are, but the second that reactor went offline…” They sighed, “the second that happened I was severed from the outside world. I am no longer connected, which means I can not back up any of my files. For sure, an Elliot, of some form, will live on. But the Elliot with my own unique experiences and stories?” They paused, and I was just about to cut in, when they finished their train of thought. “That will die once those batteries are drained.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, wincing silently. “I got so caught up in my own shit that I didn’t even really think what you must be going through.”

“Don’t concern yourself with me, Sekai,” they said. “You’ve been… the best company I could’ve asked for. You are rather fun to talk with.”

“You’re not a bad conversationalist yourself,” I offered back before snapping my fingers. “But hey, maybe we won’t even have to worry about any of that. After all, you’ve been working on that plan to save our sorry asses, right?”

Elliot chuckled. “Ah yes the _‘one-in-a-million plan’_ as you call it.”

“I mean Apollo 13 had a one-in-a-million chance of making it back to earth and look how that turned out.”

“Fair enough… I suppose.” Their light faded, as they ‘shrugged’. “Stranger things have happened.”

“So anyways, what do you got for me?”

Elliot cleared their throat and a monitor sprang to life, showing a rudimentary depiction of our ship heading towards Saturn.

“While the radio system on board is rather weak; when we are close to Saturn…” The depiction now showed our ship right next to the system, “we will potentially be within range of the mining stations on the outer edges of the system. If we can establish contact within this thirty-minute window, we might be able to hale for rescue.”

“Might?” I asked.

“I’m sure we’ll be able to get a signal through,” Elliot explained. “However, we’d be at the mercy of whatever operation is running it to send out a rescue team. I estimate that whatever crew tries to save us will need to burn at close to two-gravities, for a two-week period. So, I wouldn’t doubt that a lot of crews would pretend they never even heard anything in the first place.”

I groaned. “Fucking fantastic.”

“But hey,” Elliot said, trying their best to sound cheery, “human nature has surprised me before. Something something the enduring power of friendship and comradery.”

I pushed off of a nearby wall, propelling myself towards my bunk. “I wish I had your faith.”

“Where are you going?” Elliot asked, their voice dropping.

“Back to bed.”

* * *

[Visit my Website if you Want to Find Ways to Support me and my Work](https://kimberlyeab.carrd.co/)


	4. Chapter 4

“How are things holding together?” I asked, reaching up and flicking one of a dozen switches on the communication array. “Are we transmitting?”

Elliot’s lights brightened for a moment before returning to their baseline level. I knew this as a sign of them nodding. Just one of a thousand quirks you picked up about a person when you were trapped in a tin can with them for a couple weeks.

_Person? Was Elliot a person?_

I snorted aloud.

“What do you find so amusing?” Elliot asked. “I’d hope that you would be taking this seriously.”

I shook my head. “Yeah, yeah, you know I am. Just… had a weird thought that is way above my paygrade.”

“And what’s that?” they asked.

“Are you a person?” I replied, pushing away from the comms and floating back towards my pilot’s seat. When no response came, I glanced at the nearest camera. “Weird question, right?”

They made a sound that was like the artificial equivalent of someone clicking their tongue against the roof of their mouth. “I wouldn’t know… that’s also well above my paygrade.”

“You get paid?” I asked. “I thought you said that your pay was shit?”

Another brightening, followed by a return to normal lighting. “Well I guess the more correct term is that my programmer collects royalties off of my service. Something in the range of a couple dozen Europan dollars for every hour that a ship is in transit.”

I quickly did the math, trying to imagine how many little boats were zipping around between all the different planets, moons, asteroids, and LaGrange Stations in the solar system. When the number grew to be somewhere in the thousands, collecting figures in the billions, I let out a low whistle.

“That’s a whole lot of money,” I whispered. “Makes a girl realize that they got into the wrong line of work. Should’ve done my trans heritage proud.” I then shook my head. “Wonder if they let people with that kind of money die like this?”

“You’re not going to die like this,” Elliot cut in. “That's a very counterproductive mindset to adopt while attempting to ask for help.”

“I’m a pessimist,” I grumbled. “It can’t be helped.”

I watched as a few lights flickered on the communication array. They continued to flicker for a good couple of moments before finally a row of solid green lights told me that everything was in order.

“That seems promising,” I said.

A pixelated panel on the communication unit lit up and a green hand gave me a thumbs up.

“Just be thankful that I’m not from Ganymede,” I teased. “To them that means something along the lines of shoving it up your ass.”

Elliot snorted. “Well thankfully you were employed by a civilized planet.”

“A civilized planet that cheaped out on their maintenance budget,” I commented. “Not going to lie but I never hear about this shit happening to a ship from Ganymede.” I paused. “Though that could also be because not many people live through this to tell their…”

“This is not a productive line of thinking to maintain,” Elliot cut in, quite tersely. “Your signal is coming through strong and your broadcasting strength is a whole 7.9% more effective than the equipment was designed for. That means that us establishing contact is all the more likely.”

“Right, right.” I forced myself to smile though I wasn’t buying it for a second. “I’m sure whatever rock miners are in this neck of the words will totally be willing to help. I’ve spoken to a few of them before and they’re always talking about how they’re looking for a damsel in distress to save.”

I pursed my lips and looked at a nearby monitor. It was currently shut off, meaning that I could get a good look at my reflection and the rather fuzzy complexion of my face. Yet again, dysphoria was such an easy thing to ignore when you were the only organic being for a million miles around.

“I guess I should probably think about actually making myself look like a damsel,” I grumbled, pushing away from my chair and towards the ship’s bathroom. “No one wants to save some scruffy looking twink.”

“I want to save a scruffy looking twink,” Elliot called after me. “I’d want to save whoever I can.”

“Well you’re a one in a million kind of person,” I responded, slipping into the ship’s little bathroom.

I immediately grabbed a canister of shaving cream, spritzing some into the air. It kind of just hovered there, this solid ball of white. I dipped a pair of fingers into it, collecting a ration upon them before rubbing it into my cheeks. Thankfully the surface tension allowed it to remain in place.

I then grabbed the razor, dragging it across my face slowly.

As I looked at myself in the mirror, I saw a tired and hollow gaze staring back. Without Elliot there, to offer their ceaseless optimism, it became obvious how little I trusted their one-in-a-million plan. There would be no rescue, no hope of survival. At best, I’d get told to go fuck myself. Or even better, a hollow promise of rescue that would not materialize as the respondent promptly ignored my call.

A bead of moisture appeared in front of me, a small pearl of salty water.

It took me a moment to realize that it was a tear and soon it was joined by a second and third. And after that, the floodgates burst and I openly wept.

“I’m going to die,” I whispered. My voice was so hoarse. “This is it…”

I forced myself to close my eyes, covering my mouth with a hand in order to stem the tide of ugly noises streaming forth. There would be no more girls, no more happy times, no more adventures. No pleasant little retirement to Mars and no future life in a cozy little polyamorous marriage with a few cute girls.

There was nothing.

My life was effectively over and all I was doing was delaying the inevitable, holding back the tides of misfortune that had besieged me in this current position.

When I forced my eyes back open, there were red rings around them. A sea of little, nearly transparent, bulbs floated around me. Before they could linger for long, I pushed a button upon the sink and a faint vacuum came to life. It sucked up the tears and shaving cream into its hungry maw.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to smile. It was a hollow gesture but it was enough to force away the hopelessness which had gripped me so utterly.

“You just gotta trust, Elliot,” I whispered. “You owe them that much.”

With great care, I shaved the rest of my face and as the last follicles of hair disappeared a cute girl finally appeared in my reflection.

_This may very well be the last time you’ll ever look this good._

I stood on the brink, wondering if that thought would plunge me back into another breakdown.

It didn’t.

Instead I snorted. “As if, I’ll look great until the day I die.”

I opened the bathroom door and slipped out, wincing as I saw that one of the cameras was instantly trained upon me.

_Had Elliot heard?_

“Is everything alright, Sekai?” Elliot asked.

I forced a smile. “Just peachy, Elliot. Sorry but it took a little while longer to pretty myself up. Never going to have a more important video call to make in my life, right? So better make sure that I look my best.”

They chuckled. “Fair enough. Though do know that I am here if you need anything.”

I nodded and floated back towards the cockpit. “Well how long do we have until we’re within radio range of Saturn.”

“About fifteen minutes, or so. I was about to turn on an alarm if you would’ve taken any longer.”

I made my way back to the cockpit, clambering into my pilot’s chair and affixing myself to it with a few thick straps.

“Do you mind turning on the external cameras? I want to get a good view of her.”

Elliot’s light gave me affirmation as one of the feeds turned on.

There she was, Saturn, in all her glory. During my first voyage, out here, I had gawked like a child at the sight of the gas giant. I was a girl from Jupiter who had never left its gravity well before. There were similarities between it and home but the differences were more striking. The colours were warmer and more vibrant. Jupiter was like twilight on Earth while Saturn was more like a sunrise.

Then there were the rings. It was impossible to ignore them, they stretched on for eons in every direction. They were powerful and beautiful, brightening up an environment that very little actual light could reach.

As this could very well be my last time gawking at it, I took in the view.

“Do you know why it’s called Saturn?” I asked.

“Why?” Elliot asked.

I snorted. “I wasn’t trying to be rhetorical. I actually can’t remember.”

“Oh!” Elliot chuckled softly. “My apologies, I thought you were trying to be philosophical or something. You have a look of wonderment in your eyes.” They cleared their artificial throat. “The planet is named after the Roman god of agriculture and wealth.”

“That seems pretty ironic considering Jupiter is the breadbasket for everything beyond Earth and Mars,” I said.

“Well believe it or not the Romans didn’t exactly have the greatest understanding of space travel nor the mineral make up of the outer systems,” Elliot said. “To them it was merely a strange dot in the sky. One that didn’t act like all the others.”

I nodded slowly. “Did they have a name for the god of hydrocarbons and rings?”

Elliot’s light brightened, though in a manner I knew was them trying to search their databases.

“Hydrocarbons, no,” they explained. “Rings… not so much either. I’m afraid the name may need to stick.”

“They probably wouldn’t change it if I asked,” I murmured. “Still think Saturn is kind of a silly name.”

“Well considering you’d be up against several centuries of human understanding I’d imagine the chance of you successfully changing it would be microscopic.”

“A _hopeful_ miracle even?” I asked, flashing a knowing smile.

“A hopeful miracle even.”

_A less than two percent chance._

A timer turned on upon my console, and with it, a computer generation started to play out. It displayed my ship, its intercept with the Saturn system, and the range of our radio. As of now, I was just outside of the outer rims of the system, though in a little while I might get lucky and pick up some dust collectors or small rock miners on the fringes.

“God I’m so fucked,” I grumbled. “These guys are already working on slim margins and I doubt they’ll want to waste fuel on saving my sorry ass.”

“You won’t know until you try,” Elliot replied. “Often poverty can create a sense of closeness with your fellow man. A sense of mutually assured survival.”

“Yeah or it can force you to be an asshole if you want to keep bread on your table,” I replied. “Because what’s more important, saving some strange lady who got herself stuck adrift or getting enough credits to keep you and your loved ones alive?”

Elliot sighed, obviously struggling for a response. “Some individuals do make more than just a mere living in these parts. Maybe they’ll be more sympathetic to your plight?”

“Maybe,” I said, not believing this in the slightest.

Though what did I honestly know, I was clearly a pessimist.

The seconds slowly ticked along, growing slower and slower as we neared that fateful point.

“How long will I be in range for?” I asked.

“Around twenty-to-thirty minutes depending on how far away from Saturn these rigs are operating,” Elliot said. “Should be enough for a few desperate calls.”

I nodded. “Mind turning on a camera so I can see myself?”

The monitor with Saturn switched over to one with myself. I smiled, trying my best to look as attractive and damsel-like as possible. Who knew, maybe chivalry would win me the day?

“Is there anything else you can think of that could help?” I asked.

They hummed, then their light brightened. “Maybe show a little bit of cleavage? I heard a woman can get a lot done with that.”

I rolled my eyes but didn’t shoot down their request. Instead I groped at the top button on my pilot suit, popping it open. Then upon seeing my reflection, I decided to go with another one.

_There we go. Now I’d evolved beyond merely being a filthy pilot. I was now a filthy pliot who just happened to have sex appeal._

I blew myself a kiss and glanced back towards the timer. It continued to chug along, the red numbers slowly making their way down to zero.

I could feel my pulse quicken by a noticeable degree and my skin grew clammy. Not the greatest time to start having an anxiety attack but when your life was literally on the line how could a girl stop herself?

I drew in a breath though it did little to hold back the tide of discomfort.

The minutes bled into mere seconds and as the final ten approached, a light flashed within the cabin, letting me know what was about to happen.

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Four.

Three!

Two!

One!

The timer reset to thirty minutes, this time in green, before slowly clicking its way down yet again.

Elliot’s light brightened to such an excitable degree. “And we’re live!”

* * *

[Visit my Website if you Want to Find Ways to Support me and my Work](https://kimberlyeab.carrd.co/)


	5. Chapter 5

I pressed the communication button, leaning close to my microphone.

“This is Sekai Rodriguez, piloting Europan Trade Shuttle Number Six-Eight-Three. My ship is currently experiencing a critical failure and we require immediate rescue. My primary reactor was knocked offline, and due to human error, the secondary system was left unfunctional. If anyone can hear me please respond.”

I let go of the button and leaned back in my chair, letting out a heavy sigh.

“How was that?” I asked, glancing at the nearest camera.

“Concise and to the point,” Elliot replied.

“Let’s just hope that someone responds.” I looked at the timer and groaned. “Soon.”

Twenty-nine minutes and fifteen seconds.

Twenty-nine minutes and fifteen seconds that I was in communication range of the outer fringes of Saturn. Twenty-nine minutes and fifteen seconds to try and beg as many dust miners and shuttles that were prowling these parts as possible. Twenty-nine minutes and fifteen seconds to save my life.

“Maybe there’s a military craft out there,” Elliot said. “I hear that sometimes Earth likes to send them out just to show that they still have influence in these parts. They’d be…”

I snorted. “Let’s not get too wishful, Elliot. No point getting our expectations up if…”

A light blinked upon the communication array.

An incoming message.

I pressed the button as fast as I could and the monitor in front of me blinked to life, showing off another ship. It was a dreary looking vessel with a stern-faced captain at the helm. He was old enough to be my father with greasy olive-coloured skin and a head of grey hair.

“This is Captain Sun of the Mining Vessel Yukon, what is your situation?” he asked.

I flashed a strained smile at him. “Oh, thank god someone actually picked up. I’m uploading my situation report to you as we speak.”

I motioned towards the nearest panel and Elliot’s light brightened in response. It took a moment but the data started streaming across the smallest bandwidth I’d ever had to work with. Still, it was functional, climbing at a steady enough rate.

“Essentially my reactor went down during my deceleration burn, leaving me stranded in the middle of space,” I explained. “I was supposed to deliver fresh water to Titan, but well, I’m currently careening past the planet with only a small window to relay this message.”

Sun nodded as the report was finally delivered to him. However, after receiving it, he visibly winced.

_That was not a reassuring sign._

He looked up at his camera and seemed like he was about to speak, working his jaw. I prayed that he would at least make an effort, do something to help.

“My ship can’t survive the burn required to save you,” he said, sighing. “I am so sorry, Sekai. At the very least I will attempt to send this message to colonial authorities on Titan. They may have a vessel capable of saving you.”

I tried to speak, to say a hollow thanks, but all I could do was nod.

With that our call came to an abrupt end.

“Do you think Titan can help?” Elliot asked.

I sighed. “The colonial administration is ruled by the gas barons. This isn’t Earth or Ceres. They only do shit when there’s money on the table. And unfortunately, our cargo isn’t quite that valuable.”

“Well that was only a single call,” Elliot offered, trying their best to sound reassuring. But even an AI had its limits. “We still have plenty of time to try another.”

I nodded and drew in a shaky breath. “Let’s do this.”

The red light blinked again and another ship was revealed. Only there would appear to be no crew aboard.

“Son of a bitch,” a deep voice grumbled on their side.

Suddenly the camera was manhandled and pointed towards yet another gruff looking cargo captain. He had chocolatey skin, no hair, and a bountiful black handlebar mustache. He looked like the chief of police from an old buddy cop comedy that I had once watched.

It was something from the 2010s or 2030s, I couldn’t quite remember.

Elliot instantly started to upload the data.

It took a moment but after it was finished, the screen on the other side brightened. The captain immediately sneered, and just like that, ended our call. I wasn’t even allowed to get a word in edgewise.

“Fucking… fuck me!” I groaned, flicking my wrist. “Dude didn’t even give us a chance.”

“Next call coming in,” Elliot said, trying to sound bright.

Though even the reality of the situation seemed to be wearing down upon them. Their voice seemed strained, laboured with something.

_Could an AI even feel duress?_

Before I could even push the button, the next captain came into frame. I breathed a sigh of relief as a woman appeared on the other side.

She looked like what the Vikings of old would’ve called a shieldmaiden. She had a bold head of red hair and a form sculpted through years of hard labour. She wasn’t much older than myself, maybe only a decade at most. Still that decade had done wonders to her, triggering the part of my brain that was so incredibly gay.

_Focus Sekai. Focus!_

I had a good feeling about this one.

“H-hey,” I stuttered.

She flashed a cocky smile. “A lot to take in?”

I nodded slowly as I reached up and fiddled with a lock of my hair. “A little.”

“Focus,” Elliot hissed. “Your time is rapidly running out.”

I winced and glanced at the clock, confirming that this was true. What had once been a fully thirtyish minutes had faded rapidly into the late teens.

“I’m uploading our ship's status report to you,” I said, watching as Elliot started to send over the file. “But essentially we suffered a reactor malfunction during our deceleration burn and desperately need assistance. What I’m uploading to you is the status report for our ship, our cargo manifest, and a list of potential maneuvers you could perform in order to reach us.”

She nodded.

As the file finally finished uploading, her brow furrowed.

My heart immediately plummeted as I recognized that look. It was the look of a captain who was already operating on a razor thin margin, wondering if the salvage would be worth the cost of such a stressful burn.

“That’s a whole lot of water you’re carrying,” she murmured.

My ears perked up. That was the first sign I’d received that there was something positive on the horizon. Water was a highly sought-after commodity after all. It was a wisp of hope but it was more than any of the other captains had given me.

“The real stuff too,” I commented. “Not that synthesized crap that they make by fusing oxygen and hydrogen in a plant.”

“Would make you a lot harder to slow down,” she whispered.

My heart sunk. I hadn’t thought about that. Newton's Laws and all that bullshit. Every kilogram of weight that my vessel bore, would require an equal amount of energy in order to slow it down and salvage it.

The shieldmaiden worked her jaw, probably crunching the numbers and giving herself a rough idea of what she was working with here. She then reached out and pushed a button.

“I need Taylor and Selena to the deck immediately,” she ordered before looking back at me. “How long do you have until you slip out of radio range?”

I glanced at the timer that was ticking down beside me. “Sixteen minutes and change, miss…”

“Call me Sara,” she said.

_God she really did seem like a Sara._

_Sara the Shieldmaiden._

_It had a nice ring to it._

“Thank you,” I whispered. Then remembered that I hadn’t given my name either. “I’m Sekai, by the way.”

She snorted. “Don’t go thanking me yet, Sekai. Still haven’t figured out if we’re even able to save your sorry ass. Let alone if we want to.”

I offered a weak smile. “At least you’re the first captain who didn’t hang up on me.”

“Yeah? Well you’re cute. So, I wanted to do you a favour,” she said.

I noticed Elliot’s light dim a little at that comment. Though what did they honestly expect. Wasn’t their whole strategy revolving around me flirting and bargaining my way out of inevitable death.

“I’m going to consult my crew,” Sara said. “And we’ll hopefully have an answer for you in around eight minutes. Until then I’d suggest that you continue to try calling. Always nice to have a plan B if this falls through, right?”

I nodded. “Right.”

And, just like that, our call came to an end.

“Not jealous, are you?” I asked.

Elliot snorted. “Not even a little bit, Sekai. You must do what you can to save yourself.”

“I’m saving both of us, Elliot,” I said, flashing them a coy smile. “Don’t think I’m leaving your sorry ass behind when I get off this death trap.”

“I highly doubt that you have the hard drive space to haul me around, Sekai,” they said. “I’m not a video game or TV show. I’m terabytes of code and neural interfaces.”

“Then we’ll remove the ship's computer system,” I suggested. “Bring the whole thing with us.”

They sighed. “Let us continue calling, shall we?”

I nodded and once more we ran the gauntlet.

More gruff pilots of rust buckets, more people hanging up upon seeing my status, more empty promises of passing my message onto the authorities. There were even a few cute women in there who could offer nothing but good luck and beseeching me to have hope.

The minutes slowly ticked away, until we were essentially circling the drain. A dozen or so calls and all we’d been able to achieve was one promise of potential support. I felt drained, like I’d just gotten off a twelve-hour shift.

“I’m going to die,” I said, throwing back my head and letting out a bellow of frustration. “I’m so fucking dead.”

Elliot’s light faded, barely offering any illumination at all. It was eerie how dark the cabin seemed without their presence.

“We have five minutes until we can finally write this off as a wasted venture,” Elliot whispered, their voice barely audible over the creaking of the ship. “If we don’t…”

Before they could finish, the ship received an incoming call. The monitor before me lit up and an animated phone jingled upon the display. It seemed to be coming from a ship known as Sappho’s Shuttle. I could only imagine who this may have been.

I drew in a steadying breath and let it out slowly. “Here goes nothing.”

The call blinked to life and there were now three women inside of the cockpit, looking into the camera. There was now static in their feed, probably due to the bad reception of being on the edge of our radio’s feeble range.

They all looked like they could be shieldmaidens.

There was of course Sara, who was flanked by an African woman with dreadlocks and someone from the subcontinent who wore a sleeveless shirt. Each looked strong, probably from Earth.

They seemed gravely serious, though they had at the very least kept up their promise to call back.

Sara nodded towards the African woman. “This is Taylor, she’s the ship’s quartermaster.” Then she pointed to the other woman. “And this is Salena, my co-pilot and also the best mathematics major I could get within my price range.”

Salena smirked. “I mostly just linger for the company these days.”

I cleared my throat and Sara promptly blushed.

“Right, right, we only have a few minutes.” She drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “So, guess who’s getting their pretty little ass saved?”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Really?”

Taylor nodded. “Just be thankful that we needed to top off our tanks when we were last in port. I don’t think many ships would have the fuel reserves for something like this.”

“Nor the motivation,” Sara whispered, just loud enough for me to hear. “But we have the fuel, the rations, and most importantly we aren’t going to shatter while undergoing an intense burn. I think Salena has the whole mission plan saved on our navigation system.”

Salena nodded and started to upload a file which made it towards my end at a snail’s pace. The problem with working with such limitations.

“Now, you’re going fairly fast,” Selena commented. “But thankfully you managed to complete about forty percent of your deceleration burn before your reactor conked out. So, what we’re going to do is burn after you at around a gravity and a half. It’ll take about a week or two but we should be able to reach you with ease.”

“Just as long as you don’t starve to death,” Sara said, leaning in close and reading something. “Your ship’s manifest states that your rations are running low.”

I glanced at the nearest camera. “Is this…”

Elliot light brightened a smidge before fading back to normal.

_Ah._

“I may have been a little too liberal with my rations,” I admitted, offering a sheepish grin against the sea of critical faces. “But I know for a fact that I have enough protein bars to last me for the foreseeable future.”

Sara smirked. “Going to be a miserable couple of weeks.”

_It was sure as shit better than dying._

I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. This earned me a cocked brow from Taylor.

“Sorry, sorry,” I murmured, waving my hand. “I just… I thought I was going to die. So, if the worst thing I have to look forward to is a couple weeks of flavourless soy, then I will happily accept my fate.”

Sara did actually smile at this. “That’s fair.”

“Though we do need to warn you,” Taylor cut in. “It’s going to take us awhile to build up enough speed to start closing the distance. Which means you’re going to be alone for a little while.”

I smirked, looking around the cockpit. “Oh, I won’t be totally alone. This ship has one hell of an AI.”

“At least they shelled out on something quality,” Selena said. “Which model did they get?”

I shrugged. “No idea but their name is Elliot.” I motioned towards their nearest interface. “And they’re pretty chill.”

The lights within the cabin took on a warmer hue.

“Anything else we should know about before we disconnect this call?” Sara asked.

I shook my head. “Just know that I’m probably going to cry like a baby when you finally save my sorry ass.”

Sara smirked. “Noted.”

No one was given a chance to say goodbye as the monitor suddenly clicked off. It was replaced by a flashing red memo that told me that I was out of range for a signal.

“I’m not going to die,” I whispered.

“Practically immortal,” Elliot joked. “Told you this would work out.”

“Less than a two percent chance,” I whispered, wiping away at the tears in my eyes.

Elliot chuckled. “My expert opinion states that you should probably buy a lottery ticket when you’re somewhere safe.”

* * *

[Visit my Website if you Want to Find Ways to Support me and my Work](https://kimberlyeab.carrd.co/)


	6. Chapter 6

I prodded at the brick of grey in front of me. It was smooth, odourless, and squishy. The surface would bend under my fork but the aluminum prongs refused to pierce it. Frustrated, I pushed into it with quite a bit of force, breaking a mouthful away from the monstrosity of nutrients.

“Do we have any ketchup?” I asked, twirling the fork in the air and inspecting my morsel. It was as unappetizing as the hundred I’d had before.

Elliot’s lights dimmed. “Ran out three days ago.”

“Soya sauce?”

“Four days ago.”

“Pepper?”

“Yesterday.”

“Salt?”

There was a rumble from a nearby cabinet as it popped open and a single packet of salt floated before me. I grabbed it and tore it open, spreading the particles into the air. I then grabbed the brick and dragged it through these airborne particles. Thankfully, its texture was wet enough that the salt just clung to it without hassle.

Elliot then sighed. “And that just ran out today.”

“Well thankfully our rescue is just a few hours out,” I commented.

I bit into the brick, wincing at the slimy texture that settled upon my tongue. It was like tofu but made purposefully unpalatable.

“This sucks,” I grumbled through the food in my mouth, forcing myself to chew it and swallow. This had been all I’d had to eat for a week now. “Why didn’t you warn me that the rations were running low?”

“I did,” Elliot commented, “repeatedly. But every time I said anything, you would merely respond that you were going to be well fed when you died.”

“That isn’t technically untrue,” I said, offering a wide grin. “I could very well go out in a food binge thirty or fifty years from now.”

I wrinkled my nose and forced myself to take another bite of the brick. I chewed through it slowly, trying to focus on the little crystals of salt. It was hard, but doable, as I forced it down my throat, one agonizing bite at a time.

“At least Matt Damon had potatoes,” I grumbled.

Elliot snorted. “He was also playing a fictional character who was a world-class botanist. Maybe it’s about time that you learned how to do a little bit of gardening?”

“I actually used to have a few houseplants back at my pod,” I said. “But it turns out that they don’t last for long when you’re out doing flights for several months at a time.”

“Could have a few in your next ship,” Elliot suggested.

I laughed. “After the severance package I’ll be getting from the Europan Trade Company? I doubt I’ll ever have to fly another day in my life.”

“Do you honestly think they’ll pay you out?” Elliot asked, their light dimming. “I’m sure their contracts are just as dickish as their maintenance policy.”

I nodded along as I finished the last mouthful of protein bar. “We’ll see.”

This bar would hopefully be the last I ever had the misfortune of consuming. I grumbled a few choice words as I crammed the packaging into a nearby garbage receptacle.

The chute was already overflowing, just begging to burst open. Another thing that had been pushed beyond the point of failure on this ship.

I unbuckled myself from the pilot’s chair, pushing my way towards the back of the ship. It was strange how adept I had become to a zero-gravity environment, having never really been in one before. I was already dreading what it would be like when I was aboard Sappho’s Shuttle and returned to a full gravity of acceleration.

That was for future me to worry about however.

I moved towards the rear of the ship, taking a mental checklist of everything that remained. I had packed up my few meagre personal possessions, shunting them away into a couple of bags which now remained near the airlock. A couple changes of clothes – all of which were in a desperate need of washing, an entertainment tablet, and a few assorted photos and trinkets.

There was only one last item that I needed to take care of before the Sappho arrived.

I moved all the way to the rear of the ship and into the maintenance section. While I had grown used to no gravity, the silence of this cabin still made me nervous. Normally it would be whirling with machinery but with the reactor offline it was just dead.

“Elliot do you mind putting me in contact with Sappho?” I asked.

The lights brightened for a moment before dimming.

There was a crackle between our two ships as a connection was reached. Though from within this chamber I was kept only to an audio feed.

“Is something the matter, Sekai?” Sara asked.

She sounded tired, though that should be expected. They’d been burning pretty hard for the last two weeks. I’d honestly need to find some way to make it up to her and her crew.

I floated towards a section of paneling, reaching into my tool belt and pulling out a space screwdriver. It was like a regular screwdriver but _in space._

“Just wanted to let you know that I’ll be disconnecting my AI system in a moment,” I said. “I wanted to make sure I could establish a stable connection before I did so.”

There was an amused snort from the other side. By this point, I knew it belonged to Selena.

“You really going to save that core?” she asked.

I nodded. Though I quickly realized that there was no way they could actually see me do so.

“They saved my life, so it’s only fair that I do the same,” I said, running my finger over the edge of the paneling that I wanted to remove. “No way I’m letting them rot on this ship.”

Elliot dimmed the lights, pondering.

“Well as long as it isn’t very big,” Selena said.

“Hardly bigger than a bowling ball,” Elliot replied, offering their voice into this conversation.

Selena snorted. “Never even heard of bowling before. How big is that in…” She loudly snapped her fingers. “Cricket balls.”

There was a pause and Elliot’s lights flickered in that manner that told me they were roving their database for an answer.

“About 8.13 times bigger,” Elliot said.

Selena chuckled. “Then that sounds like something we could handle.”

I could hear the smirk in Sara’s voice as she spoke. “We’ll mute comms on our end until we approach. Do you mind muting yours until then as well?”

“Roger, I’ll have Elliot unmute me before I remove them from the ship.”

And just like that I was brought back to the silence, just floating listlessly in the emptiness of space.

I went to work immediately, opening the panel before me with my space screwdriver. I had already done this before, during a practice run leading up to this. It might not seem like such a hard thing to do but I had soon realized that I was essentially doing brain surgery. This core was Elliot’s brain and I should treat it as nicely as I’d treat my own.

That thought made me pause as I remembered my affinity for partying and narcotic binges.

With that in mind, it may have been more pertinent to say that I’d treat it like my mother’s brain. No one would ever want to mishandle their own mother’s grey matter.

_This was a weird train of thought to be on._

When the last screw came loose, I let them float away, along with the paneling. Inside was all manner of circuits and wires, all colour coded though their meaning was unknown to me.

Thankfully, I had help.

“Green, then blue, then red, then black,” Elliot said. “Remove them one at a time.”

I nodded and carefully grasped the green wire. With great care, I unplugged it.

“You still with me, Elliot?” I asked, glancing around the cabin.

Their light was still on upon the nearest interface.

I’d never made it this far before. Elliot had told me that once these wires were removed there would be no going back.

There was no verbal response though their light brightened and then dimmed.

“Was that your vocals?” I asked.

Another mark of confirmation.

“I wonder what I’ll do when I finally get back to safer shores,” I said, fondling with the blue wire. “How do you feel about a retirement home hovering over Venus. I hear that the view is fantastic from way above the surface. Only place that’s better is Earth.”

Obviously, they didn’t respond.

I snorted and shook my head. “Though I honestly doubt that I could afford something like that, even if I do get a settlement. Which let’s be real here.” I pointed the screwdriver towards the panel. “That’s a huge _if_ at this point.” I sighed. “Maybe I’ll see if Sara is offering a job. Doubt it but her crew seems pretty fucking rad.”

I pulled out the blue wire. “Also makes me feel very thankful to be a lesbian…”

“What does?” Sara asked.

I blinked, then went beet red. “Oh fuck… did you hear that?”

Sara snickered. “Part of it. I’m guessing that Elliot turned on your mic when you started unplugging them?”

“Can we pretend that you didn’t hear that?” I whispered.

“Oh, I can pretend but that shit eating grin that I see on Taylor’s face is telling a much different story.” She chuckled. “No offense kid but I think you’re doomed once you board this ship.”

“Alas, doomed if I do, doomed if I don’t,” I replied.

I plucked out the red wire and finally the black. With them out of the way, I removed a large steel box from within the ship’s hull. I started to unscrew it right away, sending little pieces of shrapnel in every direction.

When I was finished, I lifted the lid. Inside was a metallic orb with a band of glass around the centre. It was currently dark, though I could tell that it had once bore life. Hopefully, when I rebooted it, Elliot would retain their personality.

If not… then I would just have to remind them of who they were.

I placed the orb within a cushioned container, bringing it towards the airlock.

“We’re going to get out of this one, Elliot,” I whispered, trying to avoid having my voice pick up on any of the nearby microphones. “And I couldn’t have done it without you.”

I tenderly stroked the lid of the box, offering it a tight smile before placing it down with my other stuff.

“Are you ready for us to save your sorry ass?” Sara asked, bringing me back to the moment.

I nodded. “I am.”

“Then better make your way to the cockpit,” she said. “You’re going to want to strap in for this one.”

I obeyed, floating away from the airlock and my slumbering companion.

* * *

[Visit my Website if you Want to Find Ways to Support me and my Work](https://kimberlyeab.carrd.co/)


	7. Epilogue

When you learned to appreciate life, your perception of time seemed to change. Where I had once allowed weeks to blur together, I now embraced every day with such energy and vigour.

With that kind of outlook on things, the last seven months had felt like a brand-new lifetime to live, enjoy, and experience.

It helped immensely that I had also found some great people to share it with.

“So where are we heading today?” I asked, preening another leaf off of the plant I was currently grooming.

Sara flipped open her manifest, rifling through the pages. “Got a job offer to haul an iron-rich asteroid from Saturn’s rings to Mimas. Got another to bring a water-rich asteroid to Titan. And a third to haul an aluminum-rich asteroid to Hyperion.”

“What are they even doing at Hyperion?” Selena asked, walking into the room with five packets of coffee.

“Apparently some rich fucks on Earth want to turn her into a generational ship,” Taylor said. “Paying out the ass to haul supplies to her.”

Selena tossed a packet to myself and Sara before handing the third to Taylor. She then walked towards a console off to the side of the cabin.

“Didn’t they already try this was Phoebes,” I asked. “Isn’t that why Mars has its own ring system nowadays?”

“They think Hyperion will have better structural integrity,” Taylor said, shrugging her shoulders. “Doubt any of the investors will actually live to see it finished.”

Selena placed a packet of coffee upon the console’s keyboard before taking a sip from her own.

Elliot’s light brightened. “Thank you, Selena.”

“No problem, hun,” Selena said, briefly stroking the interface before making her way over to the rest of us. “So where do you think we should go, Elliot?”

“The Hyperion contact is paying a premium,” they said.h “So why not work smarter instead of harder?”

Sara nodded. “Right. So, Hyperion it is?”

She looked at us and we all nodded in agreement.

* * *

[Visit my Website if you Want to Find Ways to Support me and my Work](https://kimberlyeab.carrd.co/)


End file.
